County P&Z agenda set for December

December 7, 2011

The Boundary County Planning and Zoning Commisison will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, December 15, to approve past minutes and to take under consideration the first platted subdivision proposed in Boundary County since 2005, and the first under new zoning laws that allow consideration of clustered development. It's likely to be an interesting meeting, as the application proposes the development of 30 residential lots with Kootenai River frontage, ranging in size from 2 1/2 to a bit over three acres in size, both north and south of the Copeland Bridge. Information on the application is available in the county planning and zoning office, located downstairs and immediately left of the stairwell. Partial information is also available on the county website at http://www.boundarycountyid.org/legals/11061fox/legal.htm. "Everything in the application can't be put on line," zoning administrator Mike Weland said. "I always encourage both applicants and those interested in public matters coming before P&Z to stop in and take a look at the file; it is public information and I do my best to make it available to everyone who asks. In situations like this, where there are legitimate concerns on both sides of the issue, it's the only way to understand and hone testimony to the issues raised, either pro or con." The public hearing on this application, 11-061, will not result in a decision; under the new county zoning and subdivision ordinance, platted subdivision applications can only be approved by Boundary County Commissioners, and the application will require a second public hearing before that final decision can be rendered. The nine members of the Boundary County Planning and Zoning Commission will each be sent the application, the staff analysis and all written comment submitted by the deadline Thursday, December 8, and they will be taking testimony from everyone interested at the hearing December 15. They will be asking questions, weighing evidence and testimony so as to develop "well reasoned" written findings in support of  the recommendation they make, and that recommendation will be sent to county commissioners and scheduled for public hearing before our elected leaders after the draft written by the zoning administrator is approved by P&Z chair Dan Studer. "Public comment is essential," Weland said, "but it has to meet the requirements of Idaho's open meeting law, or the process is tainted. Anyone can talk to me, but I can't really tell or offer anything, ... the decision is not mine, thankfully. All I can do is enter it into the public record, when asked, available to anyone who would inquire. Talk outside the public hearing process to a P&Z member or a county commissioner, and they will most likely say, "I can't talk about it." Doing so could force them to declare "ex parte" contact, and force them to step down from rendering a hard decision on behalf of the people of this community who elected them to make these hard decisions on our behalf. Even then, Weland said, every decision made is subject to appeal or law suit. "No decision, well thought out or not, is final until it runs the course of the legal process," he said. "The people of this county spent more than a year developing a comprehensive plan, and more hard years were spent by the P&Z commission and county commissioners to enact a set of land use rules to get us to where the people of the county told us we want to go, even where no two answers were the same." On Thursday, December 15, 5:30 p.m., in the main courtroom of the Boundary County courthouse, the county will begin the process of learning whether or not our new ordinances work. The decision will depend on whether or not those interested get involved. "There are many people in this county who believe that the rights of the property owner are sacrosanct," Weland said. "For whatever reason, they accept the fact and say nothing, even when the thing the neighbor proposes might have a direct impact on where they live or what they do to earn a living." It may be hard, but they put the trust and burden on those we elect to take into account what is best for Boundary County, and live with the decisions made. Those decisions, they trust, will be for the "greater" good.